Summertime
by LuvtoWrite
Summary: Leslie moved two years ago and Jess is a bit lonely without his best friend. However, when he gets an unexpected phone call from her, the two plan on her coming to visit for the summer. LLD


**HOWDY! So. I said like a million years ago (okay, only like one) that I might write another Bridge story. And I never got around to it until a month or so ago. It's NOT brilliant. It's NOT edited. It doesn't even have a plot other than this chapter...so please don't kill me. This story is a result of boredom and nothing more. Cheers! Right?**

**Obviously this is a LDD fic AND I don't own any of the characters!**

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Jesse Aarons was not happy. He was as far from happy as you could get. He was in his first year of high school and it was already end of the year exam time. Jess had never been one to stress out. Today...he was stressed. He had five exams that were due in two days and he'd hardly studied for any of them.

With a groan, Jess threw his pencil across the room where it hit the wall and fell to the floor with a soft thump.

"I hate this. Thanks wonderful teachers," he muttered under his breath. After staring at the pencil lying on the ground for a few moments, he walked over to it and picked it up. He didn't continue writing notes for his Algebra class, though. He grabbed a piece of lined paper and wrote at the top: Dear Leslie

Just writing her name brought a smile to his lips. He loved thinking about her and her name brought back so many memories of the times they'd shared together.

He pushed the pencil onto the paper and started writing to his best friend. He'd never been good at that sort of thing so he only got through a few sentences which read:

****

Hey! It's exam time. I'm hating it. Sure you're doing fantastic, though. As always. Much love, Jess

To fill the rest of the page, he drew his room with all of the books he was supposed to be studying and then he drew himself next to a Terabithian.

He missed the Terabithians. They weren't the same without Leslie there to be their queen. Things had gotten pretty out of hand since Leslie had left for California. After sixth grade, Mr. and Mrs. Burke decided that they needed a new atmosphere for their new book and that California would do just the trick. That meant Leslie had to leave too; much to both her and Jess' dissapointment. The two had stayed in touch and Leslie had come down to visit every other Christmas because, believe it or not, her grandparents lived in Lark Creek. This made it a convenient time for the two to get together.

But at the time being, Jess hadn't seen Leslie in almost a year and a half. This was a bit annoying. And also meant that Terabithia was becoming a bit forgotten about.

He drew a speech bubble over both his and the Terabithian's head read: "We miss you!" He knew that that would make her smile.

Carefully, he folded the paper and stuck it in an envelope that was lying on his desk. Right as he was about to seal it, however, May Belle burst through the room.

"Jess!" she said happily, holding a phone out to him. "It's Leslie!"

Jess's heart leapt and a huge smile took over his face. After MayBelle left he held the phone up to his ear.

"Leslie?" he asked into the phone.

"Jess!" His frustration of the day melted away at the sound of her voice. He threw himself, back first, onto his bed and smiled into the phone.

"What's up?" he asked happily.

"Finals...and detention," she said with a giggle. Jess gasped loudly.

"Detention!?" he yelled in shock. Leslie started giggling harder.

"Me and Harmony soaked Elliot's gym clothes in the lake yesterday. He told the teacher and she said she'd had enough of our games. Jess, we've been pranking people all year!" Jess fought back his annoyance that he was no longer part of the regular group of friends Leslie had.

"Nice going, Leslie," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know. We didn't think we'd get into much trouble. So how've you been?" she asked, happy and bubbly as always.

"Not very good. Finals are freaking me out," he said; Leslie knew better than anyone how he and stress did not mix. He heard her moan in sympathy.

"Jess, you're like the smartest kid I know," she reassured him. "You'll do fine!" Jess smiled in spite of himself.

"Thanks," he said sheepishly. Had Leslie been there in person he knew she would have slapped him playfully as if to smack some confidence into him.

"I'm so excited for the summer," she said, suddenly changing the subject. Jess laughed.

"Yeah, me too. It'd be better if you'd be here though," he said while doodling on the wall with his pencil.

"Well, you do have friends, right?" Leslie asked quickly and anxiously.

"Yeah, I have quite a few. Damien lives down the street so he's a really good friend now. But still..." Leslie suddenly gasped.

"Oh my gosh!" she squealed. "Jess! Could I come stay with you guys for the summer?" Jess's heart suddenly sped up to match Leslie's excitement. Leslie stay with him for the entire summer? That'd be like a dream come true. She'd been gone for almost two years now...he missed her like heck.

"Would you be able to?" he asked when he finally caught his breath.

"Probably. You know how easy going my parents are!" she sounded so happy. So overjoyed. Jess missed hearing her sound like that everyday.

"Go ask them," he urged.

"Alright," she agreed. "Hang on." He heard her put the phone down somewhere and her footsteps banging out of the room. It took nearly ten minutes for her to come back in which time Jess amused himself by drawing a Barbie doll on May Belle's dresser. She'd been begging him for weeks to draw it. He didn't know if his dad would approve of drawing on furniture but more than likely his dad wouldn't be around much longer. He pushed the thought away.

"Okay," Leslie finally panted into the phone that was resting in the crook of Jess's neck. "My dad said it was fine but my mom was a little iffy. She wants to know how we're going to come up with the money to get me down there. Oh! And they told me to tell you that they miss you tons."

Jess smiled appreciatively.

"Tell em I miss them too. So, should I go ask my folks?"

"Yes!" Leslie said excitedly but then she quickly asked, "How are they anyways?" Jess sat back down on his bed which he had vacated to go over to MayBelle's side of the room.

"Not so good," he replied with a sigh. Leslie put on her counseling voice.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently. Jess didn't answer immediately but stared at the back of his bedroom door as if afraid someone would be outside listening.

"Not much," he muttered. Leslie huffed in exasperation.

"Jess," she said matter of factly, "You're my best friend. I _know_ something's wrong." Jess felt a smile tug at his lips. He was still her best friend. That made something inside him decide to tell her the new issue going on at home.

"My dad's leaving."

"What?"

"He's leaving."

"For how long?"

"I dunno. For a while."

"Why?" Leslie asked. She seemed in shock.

"He started drinking and my mom's getting sick of it. Last night they had a huge argument and my mom told him to go get his act together. It's gotten really bad since we last talked, Les."

Leslie sighed sympathetically.

"I'm really sorry, Jess. Really, really sorry," she said sadly. Jess grunted in acknowledgement.

"It's no big deal. Well, it is. But we all knew it was bound to happen," he said, switching the phone to his other hand.

"How's May Belle taking it?" Leslie asked.

"Not too good. She was crying last night."

"Aww!" she said in commiseration.

"I was _not_ crying," May Belle suddenly said, opening the bedroom door and waltzing in. Jess threw a pillow at her in good humor.

"Ya were too," he insisted.

"Was not!" she protested, folding her arms. It amazed Jess to see how different his little sister had become. She was much more enjoyable now that she had grown out of the whining and mostly annoying stage.

"How do you even know I was talking about you?" Jess demanded right as Leslie said, "Ooh! Tell MayBelle I said hi!"

"An educated guess," MayBelle said with a glare. Jess decided to ignore this conversation and instead said, "Leslie says hi."

"Tell her hi for me. And tell her she _has_ to come down here for the summer." Jess suddenly made sense of the whole thing.

"You've been listening on the other line, haven't you?" he questioned. MayBelle nodded sheepishly.

"Go hang up the phone, Maybelle," he ordered. After his little sister had left, laughing maniacally, he turned his attention once again back to Leslie.

"Alright, I'll be right back," he said.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To ask my mom!" Leslie paused before she answered.

"Are you sure you want to ask? I don't want to put unnecessary stress on your mom..." she said uncertainly.

"I doubt you'll add stress. Eliminate it more likely," Jess said. Leslie laughed.

"Aww, Jess," she said in a teasing voice. "You've learned to use big words!" Jess laughed too.

"Okay, I'll be right back," he told her and then he too placed the phone on his bed and briskly walked out of his room and down the stairs. His heart was racing. If his mom said yes to this, it would be a promise of an awesome summer.

"Hey, mom," he called to the downstairs of the house. His mother's voice answered from somewhere around the kitchen.

"Mom?" he asked again, reaching the kitchen.

"What is it?" she replied, looking up from the dishes she was doing.

"Do you...do you think Leslie could come stay with us for the summer?" he asked very hopefully. His mom cocked her head and bit her lip.

"The entire summer?" she asked.

"Well, maybe for a few weeks. I don't know about the entire summer."

"Okay," Jess said eagerly; anything to get Leslie come down here.

"I'll just have to check with your father-" Mrs. Aaron's froze immediately. So did Jess. The room iced over with an awkwardness. Neither of them spoke for several moments.

"Tell her whenever her parents want to send her down, we'll be ready for her," she finally said, regaining her composure. Jess could tell that she only said yes to feel as if she was doing something without his dad. But it was a yes. A definite one.

"Thanks mom!" he said, with a huge smile before running back upstairs.

"She said yes!" he yelled into his room where he knew MayBelle would be waiting as she talked Leslie's ear off.

"Yes!" MayBelle said triumphantly. "Leslie-" she began to the phone.

"No, let me tell her," Jess cut her off, grabbing the phone back. "She said yes," he said into the phone and, in return, he heard Leslie start laughing.

"Oh my gosh, Jess! This is going to be awesome," she said happily.

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**Yeah. It wasn't great. Sorry! But this is something for all you bored people out there who have nothing better to do! P**

**Much love...**

**-Luvtowrite**


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